My name is Zoë Colvin and this blog is about pictures and places and books and unusual museums and everything from Z to C (that is, absolutely everything in existence, provided one takes an anarchic view of alphabetical order) Above all, it's an aide memoire for me

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Words and Phrases that Annoy Me

I've been under a bit of stress lately, and when that happens I become pedantic, which is why, after months without this kind of post, suddenly there are two only a few days apart.

The phrase that is annoying me today is 'longer hours', as in, 'People are being asked to work longer hours', 'Longer hours are bad for your health', 'Recession means longer hours at work', et cetera. This is absurd. An hour is an hour, it can't be longer or shorter. People may be being asked to work more hours. Many hours at work may be bad for your health, but each hour remains the same, neither longer nor shorter.

There, that's off my chest - should I mention the issue of 'cheaper prices'. No, leave it alone - you don't want to look like an all-round obsessive. Or is it too late already?

6 comments:

I imagine you'd be equally irritated by the similar expression which occurs here: http://thegrindstone.com/work-life-balance/women-work-longer-days-more-on-vacation-and-get-paid-less-so-why-are-they-happier-than-men-165/. Disappointing that you didn't use the opportunity to vent spleen over the lamentable modern confusion over when to say 'fewer' as opposed to 'less'.

And yet there is poetry in the phrase 'longer hours', as there is also in e.g. 'time dragged on' and 'time stood still'. But I'm guessing that in German you'd say (more straightforwardly) that you work 'more hours', which is maybe why their industries function so efficiently.

Anything's fine in a subjective context - an account of emotional reaction to an experience - but I don't like poetry in what are supposed to be factual news reports. Es ist hasslich (my attempt to suggest I have an irrepressibly German approach to life [if only I could function efficiently, though])

Holding On - a novel

I wrote a novel that the London literary agency Sheil Land tried to sell for me. One publisher thought it was "compelling". Another said, "It’s pacy and gripping, and the plot is great." A third commented that it "is a warm, engaging and easy read", while a fourth considered that, "It is a good story (stories) well told". If you want to see what you think, you can find it here.

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About Me

I wrote a novel, represented by Sheil Land. One publisher thought it was "compelling, but it wouldn’t be easy to categorize – it is somewhere between ‘literary’ and ‘commercial’, and would need to be one or the other to be pitched for successfully in an acquisition meeting." Another said, 'It’s pacy and gripping, and the plot is great, but it lacks that lighter women’s fiction feeling. The writing is undeniably good but I’m not quite sure how I would position it on our list.'A third commented that it "is a warm, engaging and easy read but this ‘middle market fiction’ is a really tough area', while a fourth considered that, "It is a good story (stories) well told, but just missing the X-factor that would make me fall in love with it." I wanted to write an entertaining novel that I would like when I was in the mood for something thoughtful & amusing that I could enjoy without too much effort. If you would like to read it yourself, you can find it at http://cargocollective.com/Unrealities/Holding-On-a-novel.